{Teagan – Sneak Peek} | Houston Child Photographer

Jack and I took a little road trip to Austin this weekend to hook up with the Stradtner’s for a birthday session for Teagan!  Lyndsay from Life in Motion Photography contacted me a few months ago and we started making plans for an Austin session.  Even though I was a little nervous to shoot for a fellow photographer I knew I couldn’t pass up a session with the sweetest little dude sporting the best mohawk this side of the Mississippi!  As a blog stalker for a very long time the minute I saw Ty step out of the car I was just giddy to meet these guys!  Jack and I both wanted to go home with them at the end.  As a matter of fact – Jack is still asking when he can see Ty again -  what an absolutely awesome big brother he is.   I wish I had snapped a picture of him with Jack!

Lyndsay was gracious enough to do a session swap with me and she shot images of me and Jack today while we were there.  Please go check them out (link above!) and leave her some blog love – she did an incredible job and I’m in love with the images!

Mr. T is just a love.  I couldn’t believe how awesome he was to photograph!  You take him to a spot, get him situated…and he stays.  Unbelievable.  We met up at the Austin Museum of Art at Laguna Gloria and had a fun time walking around, chatting, shooting, chatting some more…I do love to talk!  All in all it was such a fun couple of hours and I wish we could stayed longer even though the kids were freezing by the end.  Lyndsay – I hope you like what we captured today!

And this one – I love the inquisitiveness of 2 year olds!

Ten on Tuesday | Houston Family Photography

I don’t think I’ve done a Ten on Tuesday in a really, really long time.  It is Tuesday, right?  Last week had me all messed up with the holiday on Monday and I actually posted my “mine on monday” post on Tuesday thinking it was Monday.  So….

1.  I stayed up until 2am working on re-doing my blog!  I have this habit of waiting until 10 at night to start on crazy big projects that take me hours to get everything just the way I want it.  I probably need to work on changing that but I’ve always been a night owl.  I should say I was a night owl until I had Jack – and then I became a day owl.  I think I’m slowly getting back into the night owl routine lately though.

2.  Check out the new Facebook and Twitter bars over to the left!  You can click on the FB link and become a fan and keep up with sneak peeks from sessions there. My Twitter musings are mostly random thoughts during the day or wee hours of the morning.  I’m not holding myself responsible for spelling in the wee hours though.

3.  I wake up every morning feeling completely blessed that I love my job.  I was able to resign from my full time job in November to pursue my photography business full time and I have loved every minute of the past two months.  It was a huge leap of faith for me and one that I was really, really nervous about doing but I am so thankful to be working in a job I truly love.

4.  Sudafed Triple Action is the best thing since sliced bread.  My ears have stopped up with fluid for months now and nothing has worked until now.  My ear drums are popping and I can finally hear!  My husband is glad I don’t have to listen to the TV on full volume and blast out the windows.

5.  Things I am loving right now:  my Keurig coffee maker.  Oh so fast.  I don’t have to fuss with filters, coffee, etc. Just pop in a little cup, wait about 20 seconds and DONE.  A new pair of Lucky jeans that fit just right.  Complete heaven.  My newest lens – a 50mm that hasn’t left my camera yet and I doubt will anytime soon!

6.  I confess that while I’m home during the day working I get sucked into the Lifetime Movie Network.  Or Bridezilla’s.  Or 48 Hours Mysteries.  Or something totally off the wall like Bad Girls.  ??  Bad Girls?  They really have a show where women act like complete fools?  Yep, they do!!  I’ve found that there isn’t much to choose from during the day.  I don’t have the patience for soap opera’s – things just move way too slow!  I like to watch something with a beginning, middle, and end – not drawn out every day with storylines not being resolved from months on end.  I tried picking Days of our Lives back up and I’ll watch it once every other week or so but that’s all I can take.  Sidenote:  EJ – give Sammi’s baby back to her!!

7.  I really enjoy sitting down and planning out my menu’s for the week and it got even better when I got the Pioneer Woman’s Cookbook!  It’s not a calorie-light way of cooking – but it’s a yummy way.  My favorite recipe so far has been the meatloaf.  It has bacon wrapped across the top.  Need I even say more?

8.  Jack had a dentist appointment yesterday morning and we finally got the Xrays done.  Finally!  He has such a bad gag reflex and up until now (when he’s starting to outgrow it) he’s not been able to keep the bite thingies in his mouth without gagging and choking himself.  Yesterday he climbed up in the Xray chair and just had that determined look on his face and he got through all of them.  No gagging!  I was so, so proud of him.  He got a No Cavities sticker and we were on our way!

9.  I’m kicking around buying the Wii fit and canceling my gym membership that I only use here and there anyway.  Anyone have one of the workout programs that they love?  I wish I could go back to running but my knee will just not hold out for it.  Even after 6 years I still miss it.

10.  Hmmm, breakfast time??

And because no post should be without images – here’s a sweet little newborn!

{Mine on Monday} | Houston Child Photography

We had an outing at the park this past Friday afternoon.  Jack really knows how to manipulate me into taking him – he uses my weakness for the combination of him and my camera.  “Mommy, if you take me to the park you can take my pictures!”  Ok buddy…hop in the car!  He took his Superman cape for some reason but I was so glad he did – I’ve been wanting to get some shots of him in it before he grows up too much and thinks that Superman capes are dorky or something.  In typical fashion I snapped two pictures before he announced he was done with a capital D.  After walking around for awhile he found a fallen tree that was fun for jumping off of and I convinced him to put on his cape and just start running.  These two images are two of my favorite from the day.

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{Sneak Peek – Ethan & Vanson} | Houston Child Photography

I had the most awesome session this morning with these little guys.  I did Ethan’s newborn session this past October and it was so much fun to see him today and oh my goodness how he has grown!  Big brother Vanson must have shot up 3 inches since I last saw him – amazing how fast they change and grow.  I couldn’t have asked for a more terrific day with this family – we had a beautiful day outside to get the images of Vanson and beautiful light coming inside for the images of Ethan.  Have I said lately how much I love my job?  Check these little dudes out!

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{Sneak Peek – Nicholas} | Houston Newborn Photographer

I had a session with sweet little Nicholas yesterday and the Best Big Brother Ever (even his shirt said so!), Daniel.  We got some sweet newborn sleepy shots of Nicholas and some fun laughing shots of Daniel.   I predict baby Nicholas is going to be a determined child – he was definitely determined to keep his little legs straight yesterday and no folding up.   I managed to get a few shots of him curled up though – turns out I was a determined child myself! :-)

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{Mine on Monday} | Houston Children’s Photographer

And it’s Mine on Monday again!  I had all these blog posts planned last week and time got away from me.  So far it’s the same this week!  I was going through my hard drive last week looking for some pictures and I found a session I did over the holidays while I was at my parents home in Alabama.  I took my cousin’s daughter out to do a session and dragged Jack along and I snapped some of him in between shots of her!  Jack is never happy to have his picture taken and I have to bribe him with all kinds of outrageous things to look at the camera.  This time we bribed them both with the promise of ice cream cones after the session and it worked pretty well.  I still got quite a few “hands in front of the face” images but this one was worth it for me.  I ordered it as an 18×24 canvas earlier this week and I can’t wait to get it in and hang it on my wall!

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I love this one too – although I wish I had remembered to take one step back and get his feet in the picture! I was focused on the fact that he was actually looking at me and *gasp* SMILING!  Ok, it’s a fake smile – but it’s still a smile.

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And a very sweet picture of Jack and his cousin, MaryBeth.  He loves that girl and wishes he could play with her everyday.  Sadly, we live 12 hrs away from them. :-(

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{Mine on Monday} | Houston Child Photographer

I often get asked, “do you take snapshots or do you always use your nice camera?”  The answer, as you are about to see, is that I take snapshots all the time.  I use my little point and shoot and keep it in my purse and sometimes I use my big camera to take those snapshots and I just click without worrying about things like proper white balance, the best aperture for the situation, and blown channels. :-)  I just enjoy taking shots of my little boy just doing fun things.  This was one of those times!

While we were home in Alabama over the Christmas holidays we were at dinner with my cousin, Chad, and his wife and kids, and our parents and Chad turned to Jack and asked, “do you want to go visit the fire station?” I thought Jack’s eyes would pop out of his head.  Luckily I had a camera with me and off we went.  When we walked in Jack was just in awe of the fire trucks, the firefighters, the whole thing!  He was a little hesitant for awhile – let’s face it – those fire trucks are huge and I’m sure in his 4 yr old eyes a little intimidating!  He warmed up though and before long he was climbing in and out of them, posing for pictures, and asking the firefighters all kinds of questions about the trucks.  It was so cute to hear him say, “Mr. Fireman – what does this do?”  He had a great night and one he talked about for days afterwards!

These are some snapshots I took of him enjoying his tour of the fire station with his cousin, MaryBeth!  A big thank you to the Andalusia Fire Department for having us for a visit and giving Jack memories that will last a lifetime!!  He’s already decided he now wants to be both a policeman AND a firefighter!

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{Miss Eden – Sneak Peek} | Houston Newborn Photographer

I had a session earlier this week with baby Eden.  She was 9 days old and so cuddly and bendy!  I love the age of 6-10 days old for newborn photography.  They are still deliciously bendable and sleepy and a dream to pose!  As I say every time I have a session with a newborn – just getting to hold them and rock them and breathe in that new baby smell is one of my favorite parts.  Mom and Dad were incredibly fun to hang out with for the afternoon – another perk of newborn sessions!!

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